Bathers in the swim

IF he tires of sitting in his living-room thumbing through the pages

of the Frankfurter Allegemeine Zeitung, Chris Thomson can always gaze

out of the window at the grey tin hut which is the SECC. Sadly, Chris

has yet to secure the widespread public acclaim which would grant him a

gig at the venue which looms large across the road from his flat, but at

least he is well thought of in Germany, hence the presence of the

newspaper.

As has been well documented, Chris and his band, the Bathers, are at

the forefront of a remarkable Scottish-German stable of bands. The

Marina label, based in Hamburg and run by two enthusiastic German

music-journos, currently has four Glasgow bands on its books.

Marina's most recent album release was the Bathers' swoonsome

Sunpowder, hailed as a four-star corker by Q magazine, who moreover

hymned it as ''gorgeous . . . inhabiting the same honey-spun, abstract

turf as Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and Tim Buckley''. This verdict is more

right than wrong, although Q did rather spoil things by introducing an

extraneous ''p'' into the middle of Chris's surname.

Let me spell things out: what really matters is that you rush out and

discover the album for yourself. Additionally, there will be a few

chances in the coming months for you to experience the Bathers live. In

July, Chris and his cohorts will be undertaking three dates supported by

their equally fabulous Marina label-mates Sugartown. In August, there's

a Bathers' show at Glasgow's Mitchell Theatre.

All this performing activity follows the successful series of informal

Sunday-night Marina showcases which took place at the Tramway in March,

featuring the Bathers, Sugartown, and Cowboy Mouth. ''Shared billing

took the pressure off,'' says Chris in a speaking voice as plain as his

singing voice is heroic, mannered, and baroque.

''Everything felt pleasantly relaxed, almost as though we could have

chanted a mantra for 15 minutes and the audience would have let us away

with it . . . not that it was something we ever considered. But we

didn't have to rehearse enormously beforehand, and consequently we were

able to bring the music down almost to a stop, and get very quiet in

front of a warm, supportive audience . . . and that notion of light and

shade is something that works very well for us.

''When I started off with Friends Again, I always knew what I wanted

to do musically, but everything seemed to go too fast.''

And what did you want to do? What is your present aim?

''It looks terribly pretentious in print, for which I apologise in

advance, but there's no other way to put it . . . it's about freezing

some of life's moments of magic and mystery in your music. It's about

creating moments that have nothing to do with us as musicians anymore.

On tape, you sometimes get something that goes beyond all your

limitations as frail humans in a pop combo.

''It's about aiming for transcendence, which again might read as

highly pretentious, but that's what it amounts to, for the audience and

for us as players.''

And thus your voice is a cathedral, I hear myself gasping, against my

better judgment. Chris looks at me askance. He's not that pretentious,

dear reader, fear not.

Of course, you can make this kind of statement only from a position of

strength, ie if you've got a good band. Chris does. The two Bathers' LPs

to date have utilised a sympathetic bunch of skilled musos. Iain White

and Mark Wilson on strings; Carlo Scattini on keyboards; drummer Hazel

Morrison, and Love and Money frontman James Grant on guitar. Cocteau

Twin Liz Fraser is a notable guest vocal presence on four of Sunpowder's

tracks, too, having been overcome -- in common with elfin Icelander

Bjork, apparently -- by a chance listen to the previous Bathers' album,

Lagoon Blues.

Chris's live band is likely to be based on the quartet of White,

Wilson, Scattini, and Morrison. Liz Fraser, exiled in London, will be

unavailable, as will local axe hero James Grant, who is currently busy

crafting a film soundtrack for The Near Room, the forthcoming

Scottish-made movie directed by and starring David Hayman, and

co-starring Adrian Dunbar.

''James made a big vocal contribution to the first Bathers' album,

back in 1986, but we haven't recorded together since. Not since we were

both in Friends Again over a decade ago. I had a very difficult period

when Love and Money were on their upward trajectory, to be honest.

''I lost all that I'd had in Friends Again with one phone call from

James and the classic words: 'I've got something heavy to lay on you,

man.' And then he told me that he was leaving Friends Again, and he was

going to be the singer with his own band -- but everyone in Friends

Again was leaving with him to be in his band as well. It was like

something straight out of Spinal Tap!''

Fortunately, the Friends Again duo were soon friends again, and remain

so to this day. ''I only regret the fact that we didn't squeeze two LPs

into our time together. But neither of us could have made the records we

have made if we'd stayed in the Friends Again set-up.

''For example, Sweet Deceit, the second Bathers' album, was about

exorcising demons and placing no limits on my self-indulgence, but

thereafter each LP has become more accessible. Sunpowder is more

tuneful; its vocal treatments are less extreme.

''Then again, I'm often sobered when I meet Scots in their late

twenties who love music, but have never heard of the Bathers. It takes a

lot to filter through to peoples' consciousnesses.''

Chris Thomson and the Bathers: in plain English, they're very special.

* The Bathers and Sugartown will be playing in Edinburgh at La Belle

Angele on July 21; Aberdeen's Lemon Tree on July 23, and at the Garage,

Glasgow, on July 24.